THE MASSES ARE ASSES

When is a Terrorist not a Terrorist?

Imagine this scenario. A bomb is found at the home of a prominent Foreign Ministry official currently engaged in delicate international negotiations. The bomb is linked to a series of recent threats and attempted attacks on public buildings, all believed to have been carried out by the same political group. In one case, explosives were found outside a bank in the middle of an urban area, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people from their homes.

A prominent politician, speaking at a rally in the midst of a crucial battle for the Prime Ministership, chooses the attempted bombing of the official’s home as a theme of his speech. His message is simple. The official’s own actions had made the attempted bombing an entirely natural response. In short, he had it coming to him.

Which country am I describing? Not Palestine, not Iran, not Malaysia, but Japan – a country that prides itself on its maintenance of law and order, and on its quick response to the events of September 11, 2001. Extraordinary though it seems, these events took place in Japan on the eve of the second anniversary of the September 11 attacks. [...]

Manufacturing Consent?

Bolivia's Gas War

A new cycle of conflict has developed in Bolivia as worker unions, coca farmers and ordinary citizens unite to prevent the sale of the nation's gas reserves to the United States through a Chilean port. In a country whose economic identity has been strongly shaped by U.S. pressure in the war on drugs and IMF structural adjustments, The Gas War is the most recent case where the Bolivian public has vehemently protested against foreign interests taking priority over the country's economic well being.

Bolivia is currently in its tenth day of road blockades and on September 19th large scale strikes and protests took place across the country. Confrontations with security forces and protesters during these manifestations resulted in over twenty five injuries and seven deaths.

The debate regarding what to do with Bolivia's natural gas reserves, which are the largest in Latin America, came to a head approximately a year and half ago when current Bolivian president, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, or Goni, proposed that the gas be exported through Chile, instead of the more costly option of exporting it through Peru.

In August of this year civil society and union groups announced a coordinated campaign to stop the exportation which began with direct action in the Yungas, a region north of La Paz. From its start, The Gas War included demands for clarity in coca laws, the release of jailed political leaders and justice regarding the atrocities that took place in La Paz last February.

Goni maintains that the millions in revenue from the sale of gas to the U.S. will create jobs and stabilize the Bolivian economy. He has promised that the money generated will go directly into funding for education and healthcare. But many Bolivians believe that foreign companies and Bolivian business leaders will be the only ones to benefit from the sale. [...]

Time to ratchet-up the 'war on drugs'?

Norman Finkelstein Calls Alan Dershowitz's New Book On Israel a "Hoax"

NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: You raise that issue then I'll address it then returning to the substantive issues of your book.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ: First tell me why I shouldn't be teaching at Harvard.

NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: On page 207 of your book you say that to deliberately misinform, miseducate, and misdirect students is a particularly nasty form of educational malpractice.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ: Of which I accuse Noam Chomsky and others.

NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: I consider what you have done in the book to be a paradigmatic illustration of misinforming, miseducating and misdirecting. Allow me to finish.

AMY GOODMAN: Let him make his point.

NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: Allow me to finish Mr. Dershowitz I've with very respectful of your time. On page 213 you discussed Holocaust fraud by Robert Soan and you write, quote, "it was there extensive historical research" referring to his book.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ: That's right.

NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: Instead there was the fraudulent manufacturing of false anti-history.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ: That's right. And Chomsky wrote as you . . .

NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: Please don't bring in Mr. Chomsky. He can defend himself. We're talking about you and your book. It was the kind of deception referring to the book that let me quote clearly, for which professors are rightly fired.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ: I stand by that.

NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: Not because their views are controversial, let me underline this again, but because they are violating the most basic canons of historical scholarship.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ: Let me respond to that. You compare me to . . .

NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: I didn't ask . . .

ALAN DERSHOWITZ: You made up the story that the Holocaust . . .

NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: I'm referring to your standards. I have no interest in someone else I'm talking about your standards. To miseducate, misinform and misdirect - to violate the standards of historical scholarship are grounds for expulsion. [...]

Cheney Justifies Invasion Of Iraq In First Televised Interview in Six Months

In his first televised interview in six months Vice President Dick Cheney went on the offensive to justify the Bush Administration’s invasion of Iraq. In a lengthy interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, Cheney portrayed Iraq as “the geographic base” for the September 11th attacks. In attempting to sell the reasons for the war against Baghdad, Cheney repeated many allegations about Iraq that have been proven false over the past two years.

Today, we spend the hour dissecting some of the Vice President’s statements.

His comments on Niger's link to the alleged Iraq nuclear program.

His story that one of the 9/11 hijackers Muhammad Atta met with Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague.

What Cheney said about the Iraqi American who went to Iraq after the World Trade Center bombing in 1993. There's a $25 million price on his head, when Saddam Hussein offered to hand him over, the Bush administration said no. They also did not include him in the playing cards of the most wanted men in Iraq.

We also look at the U.S. authorized flights of the Bin Laden family and more than 100 other Saudis soon after September 11th when all other flights had been grounded.

The world according to Dick:

Iraq Tried To Acquire Uranium From Niger

No Knowledge That White House Helped Evacuate Bin Laden Family Days After 9/11

Iraq Linked To ‘93 WTC Bombing Through Wanted Iraqi-American

Mohamed Atta – Iraq Connection

Richard Perle vs Medea Benjamin

MEDEA BENJAMIN: It's been six months since this occupation, and even the Iraqis who welcomed the U.S. with open arms and were so happy to get rid of Saddam Hussein are now extremely bitter and angry. The resentment will only grow unless the U.S. turns this over to a legitimate authority, which is the United Nations, which will have a quick time line for Iraqi self rule and that the money that is pledged by the U.S. and the international community -- and let's remember the international community will not pledge money unless it is in the hands of the United Nations -- and that money should go directly to Iraqis and not to companies like Halliburton and Bechtel that are profiteering from this war.

RICHARD PERLE: What you just heard is a tirade against American companies in the left-wing tradition that she represents. Her characterization of the situation in Iraq is not at all borne out by many conversations I've had with Iraqis, including members of the governing council she's been referring to.

MEDEA BENJAMIN: Well, I challenge to you go there with me, Mr. Perle, because I was there in July, I was there in August, I don't stay in the presidential palace, I don't go around with bodyguards and helicopters and sniffing dogs like Paul Bremer and Colin Powell. I challenge to you go with me, without any bodyguards and let's walk around the streets of the cities of Iraq and see what it looks like six months after the U.S. occupation.

RICHARD PERLE: With all due respect, your sojourns in the cities of Iraq are hardly the appropriate measure of how well we have done in restoring electricity and getting water back on track. I don't think --

MEDEA BENJAMIN: You know better sitting in Washington, D.C.?

RAY SUAREZ: Let him finish, please.

RICHARD PERLE: Let's be clear. This is a massive undertaking and very significant progress has been made, and it makes no sense for to you sit there and say nothing has been accomplished when a great deal has been accomplished.

MEDEA BENJAMIN: It's an absolute disaster, Mr. Perle, and I think you know it, but go with me and you'll see with your own eyes. [...]

Mastermind reveals Sept. 11 plot started in 1996

Washington — Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, has told American interrogators that he first discussed the plot with Osama bin Laden in 1996 and that the original plan called for hijacking five commercial jets on each U.S. coast before it was modified several times, according to interrogation reports reviewed by The Associated Press.

Mr. Mohammed also divulged that, in its final stages, the hijacking plan called for as many as 22 terrorists and four planes in a first wave, followed by a second wave of suicide hijackings that were to be aided possibly by al-Qaeda allies in southeast Asia, according to the reports.

Over time, Mr. bin Laden scrapped various parts of the Sept. 11 plan, including attacks on both coasts and hijacking or bombing some planes in East Asia, Mr. Mohammed is quoted as saying in reports that shed new light on the origins and evolution of the plot of Sept. 11, 2001. [...]


< cough > bullshit < cough >

US-Backed Council Bars Arab Media

BAGHDAD -- Freedom of speech campaigners have condemned US-appointed authorities in Iraq for banning television stations Aljazeera and al- Arabiya.

Iraq's Governing Council said on Tuesday the stations were prohibited from covering official activities in Iraq for two weeks.

It said the action was taken as a warning to broadcasters who incite anti-US violence.

"Al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya will temporarily be excluded from any coverage of Governing Council activities or official press conferences, and correspondents of the two channels will not be allowed to enter ministries or government offices for two weeks," the council said in a statement. [...]


Liberating an Arab nation from the tyranny of Arab media.

Annan Challenges U.S. Doctrine of Preventive Action

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned President Bush that his doctrine of preemptive military intervention posed a fundamental challenge to the United Nations and could lead to a global free-for-all.

In a speech to be delivered shortly before Bush addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Annan declared that the Iraq crisis had brought the United Nations to a "fork in the road" as decisive as 1945 when the world body was founded.

Without mentioning the United States by name, Annan spoke as states in the 191-member world body were struggling to heal deep rifts caused by the war on Iraq, in which the United States acted without U.N. Security Council approval.

Annan questioned U.S. arguments that nations have the "right and obligation to use force preemptively" against unconventional weapons systems even while they were still being developed.

"My concern is that, if it were to be adopted, it could set precedents that resulted in a proliferation of the unilateral and lawless use of force, with or without credible justification," Annan warned in a text of his speech released in advance. [...]

9/11/01: Where Was George?

September 11 is often said to be the defining moment in the Bush presidency, even of modern history. How strange, therefore, that Bush's behavior that morning--along with that of his Administration--is almost never examined in any detail. This is all the more incredible when one considers the fact that 9/11 is among the most exhaustively chronicled days in human history and Bush among its most heavily covered individuals. No less odd has been the media's willingness to let the many inconsistencies in White House stories pass unexamined. They seem content instead to let Showtime tell the story, Leni Riefenstahl-style.

That fateful morning, Bush was visiting the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota. The moment he learned of the attacks is a matter of deep dispute. CIA chief George Tenet was informed of the first crash almost immediately and is reported to have remarked to his breakfast companion, former Senator David Boren, "You know, this has bin Laden's fingerprints all over it." But the President's aides maintain that he was not told about the attack for more than fifteen minutes, well after viewers saw the first building engulfed in smoke on CNN, and even after he interrupted his schedule to take a call from Condoleezza Rice upon leaving his limousine, after the first crash took place.

The various accounts offered by the White House are almost all inconsistent with one another. On December 4, 2001, Bush was asked, "How did you feel when you heard about the terrorist attack?" Bush replied, "I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower--the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly myself, and I said, well, there's one terrible pilot. I said, it must have been a horrible accident. But I was whisked off there. I didn't have much time to think about it." Bush repeated the same story on January 5, 2002, stating, "First of all, when we walked into the classroom, I had seen this plane fly into the first building. There was a TV set on. And you know, I thought it was pilot error, and I was amazed that anybody could make such a terrible mistake...."

This is false. Nobody saw the jetliner crash into the first tower on television until a videotape surfaced a day later. [...]

Israel May Kill Arafat, Deputy PM Says

The Israeli government is considering killing Yasser Arafat as one of the means to carry out its threat to "remove" him as an obstacle to peace, Israel's deputy prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said yesterday.

The statement was immediately denounced by the Palestinian leadership, which said it was the thinking of the mafia, not a government.

It also reinforced unusual questioning of the security strategy of the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, from within the country's political establishment, amid a growing belief that his insistence on a military solution to the conflict is costing Israeli lives.

"This government has destroyed the peace process," said former prime minister Shimon Peres on the 10th anniversary of the Oslo accords that won him a Nobel prize.

Mr Olmert told Israel radio that the cabinet's decision to remove Mr Arafat could be viewed in the same manner as Mr Sharon's pledge to wipe out the leadership of Hamas.

"Killing is definitely one of the options," he said. "We are trying to eliminate all the heads of terror, and Arafat is one of the heads of terror." [...]

Scottie & Me (formerly known as Ari & I)
White House Press Briefing with Scott McLellan - Wednesday, September 10, 2003

Russell Mokhiber: I've got two things.

A group of family members of victims of September 11th have gotten together in a group called Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. And they, over the past year, have written to the President four times asking for a meeting. They want him, according to the letter, to stop using our family members killed on September 11th as a reason for taking action that will cause the deaths of other innocent family members. Why has the President not met with them?

Scott McClellan: I don't know that you -- if you want to give me the specific names, I'll be glad to look into it, Russ. I don't know -- I don't know every piece of correspondence the President receives off the top of my head.

Russell Mokhiber: They have written a book September 11 -- Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. I'll get you the names of the family members. The other is, your father, Barr McClellan, has written a book that's coming out next month. It's called "Blood, Money and Power: How LBJ Killed JFK." And I'm wondering if you agree with your father that President Johnson was behind the assassination of President Kennedy?

Scott McClellan: Thank you for the opportunity, but I'm not going to have any comment on it. Thanks.

WTO Talks Collapse Amid Rift Between Rich and Poor Nations

The world trade talks collapse yesterday amid sharp differences between rich and poor nations, perhaps as stark as the differences between the resort Cancun for international tourists and the real Cancun. The talks were aimed at freeing world trade and lifting millions out of poverty.

The collapse of the talks comes as a major blow to world trade organization that many poor countries called a victory against the west. It was the second time W.T.O. talks have collapsed in four years. The diverging agendas of the members shattered hopes that the European and U.S. had given into developing countries’ demands on the aid they hand out to their farmers.

Delegates hope to slash the subsidies rich nations pay their farmers and lower the tariffs many countries charge for importing farm goods. Poor countries say the farming subsidies and tariffs make it impossible for them to compete globally and increasingly powerful alliance of poor but populous farming nations emerged as major opposition to the U.S. and European positions. The group represents most of the world’s population including China, India, Indonesia and Brazil.

Many poor countries accuse the United States and Europe of trying to bully poor nations into accepting trade rules they didn’t want. More than 50 advocacy groups issued a joint statement Sunday attacking the W.T.O. which read, "the W.T.O. continues to operate in business-as-usual mode with the European Union and United States calling the shots." [...]

AfterMath: Unanswered Questions From 9-11

In this investigative documentary, Former Inspector General of the Dept. of Transportation and attorney Mary Schiavo, UC Professor Emeritus Peter Dale Scott, author and professor Michel Chossudovsky, From the Wilderness' Mike Ruppert, and author Nafeez Ahmed, among others, raise critical, unresolved questions surrounding the tragedy of September 11. AfterMath investigates the troubling span of issues that have arisen since the attacks, including: the negligence of military officials in immediately reacting to the hijackings, proven links between the hijackers, Pakistani intelligence (ISI) and the CIA, the role of oil in the Eurasian conflict and, finally, the impact of post-911 legislation on American civil liberties.

Narrated by Hip Hop legend Paris and featuring interviews shot by GNN syndicate producers in six cities, AfterMath features nine (9) people answering eleven (11) of the most pressing questions that emanate from the terrible and, as yet, unexplained, events of that day. As you will see, these are questions that continue to overshadow and critically challenge the official 'version' of the story.

Unanswered Question # 1
To what extent should airlines have been prepared for 9/11?

Unanswered Question # 2
What did the Bush administration know and when?

Unanswered Question # 3
Why wasn’t the US military able to intercept the hijacked planes?

Unanswered Question # 4
How did the administration respond to the failures of the military and Intelligence agencies on 9/11?

Unanswered Question # 5
What ties, if any, did the US government and Intelligence agencies have with the terrorists or their supporters?

Unanswered Question # 6
Were there plans for a war in central Asia prior to September 11?

Unanswered Question # 7
Is there an underlying motive, besides the War on Terror, for the US military presence in Central Asia?

Unanswered Question # 8
Is there any historical evidence to suggest that the government may have used the 9/11 attacks to justify its war in Central Asia?

Unanswered Question # 9
How has the government's reaction to the terrorist attacks affected the rule of law in the United States?

Unanswered Question # 10
How has recent legislation like the PATRIOT ACT and the Homeland Security bill affected the lives of American people?

Unanswered Question # 11
What can we do?

Check out a sampler of the video on the AfterMath page.

WTO'S Big Show

[WTO] negotiations are snarled around two key issues: U.S. - EU agricultural subsidies and pharmaceutical industry patents on vital drugs for AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and 20 other life-threatening diseases.

Since the round in Doha, Qatar, U.S. president George W. Bush, who raises millions in political contributions from pharmaceutical giants, has been adamant about not relinquishing patent rights to allow poor nations cheap access to drugs. But last month, the White House had a sudden change of heart.

In an effort to infuse the World Trade Organization with a more humanitarian glow, the U.S. is now offering a complicated protocol that will permit drug makers in developing nations like India and Brazil to manufacture and sell generic versions of expensive life-saving drugs to the world's poorest 27 nations.

On the other hand, less poor countries like Mexico are being pressured to pledge that they will not "exploit'' the patent exception – except in cases of a "national epidemic emergency'' as defined by the WTO. "It will be interesting to see how the Mexican government explains to dying Third World AIDS patients why they are still paying First World prices to stay alive,'' writes prominent Mexican anti-globalization activist Sylvia Ribeiro.

But if agreement is imminent on drug patents, agriculture will not be so easy to unknot. The sticking point is the enormous subsidies Quad nations (Canada, U.S., EU and Japan) shell out to their farmers. U.S. farmers receive $21,000 per capita in handouts a year (all figures U.S.) from their department of agriculture, Mexicans $700 if they fall under the government's purview. Ten billion dollars in subsidies to U.S. corn farmers enables them to dump their grain in Mexico at 20 per cent below cost. [...]

Building a Mighty Ghetto State

"First of All This Wall Must Fall"

This slogan was born spontaneously, opposite the Wall in Kalkiliya, at the place where it becomes a fence and turns east, penetrating deep into Palestinian territory. On the other side of the wall the Palestinians were demonstrating. We were looking for a short rhyme to broadcast by megaphone. A common effort brought forth the seven words that carry the whole message.

True, this is not the wall of Jericho that could be destroyed by the sounding of trumpets. The people who are building this obstacle want it to stand for eternity, much as "united" Jerusalem is the "eternal capital of Israel". The Israeli Right has no concept of a period of time less than eternity. But among Israeli Leftist there are also some who believe that the wall has created an "irreversible" situation. [...]


also see:
The Apartheid Wall and The World's Largest Open Air Prison

From a 9/11 Widow's review of DC 9/11: Time of Crisis:

It is understandable that so little time is actually devoted to the president's true actions on the morning of 9/11. Because to show the entire 23 minutes from 9:03 to 9:25 a.m., when President Bush, in reality, remained seated and listening to "second grade story-hour" while people like my husband were burning alive inside the World Trade Center towers, would run counter to Karl Rove's art direction and grand vision.
- KRISTEN BREITWEISER

September 11: After two years, cover-up begins to unravel

Today marks the second anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. After two years, little more has been revealed publicly about the circumstances that led to the deaths of 3,000 innocent people than was known the day after the planes struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. As the result of a concerted attempt by the Bush administration to stonewall any serious investigation, these events remain cloaked in mystery. A myriad of unanswered questions persist about how the most powerful military-intelligence apparatus in the world failed to either detect such a terrorist plot or interfere with it once it was launched.

Yet, the traumatic losses of September 11 have become the touchstone for all of the administration’s policies, invoked as the pretext for two wars—and tens of thousands of deaths—in the space of 18 months. They have likewise been used to justify sweeping attacks on basic democratic rights in the name of a “war on terrorism,” as well as the destruction of jobs and living standards, as ever greater resources are shifted from social needs to the financing of militarism.

Most recently, President Bush made the September 11 attacks the principal theme in his speech Sunday calling for $87 billion to finance open-ended occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and to defend his administration against charges that a policy of illegal military aggression has led to political catastrophe. [...]


also see:
What You Think You Know About Sept. 11 …
… but don't.

Bin Laden strikes at America at the moment we are entering a world depression...it is the most fragile moment in the West. For someone who does not wish us well that was brilliantly timed.
- GORE VIDAL on Osama Bin Laden's uncanny sense of timing


And right on cue:

New Purported Bin Laden Tape Raises Fear of New Attacks
(CNN) -- On the eve of the second anniversary of the September 11 attacks, a taped statement purportedly from two al Qaeda leaders is raising concerns of new terror attacks against U.S. interests. [...]


As for Washington's most recent public service announcement:

Bin Laden Tape Is Old Material - French Expert
A leading French terrorism expert cautioned Thursday against taking the latest Osama bin Laden video at face value, saying it was largely an edited collection of old footage and sound tracks that have already been aired. [...]

Howard Dean and Joseph Lieberman Clash Over U.S.-Israeli Relations

Last night, at a debate among the Democratic presidential candidates sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean and Conn. Senator Joseph Lieberman clashed over Dean’s recent comment that the U.S. should not take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Dean backed his statement up last night saying it is the only way for the U.S. to be a "credible negotiator" in the peace talks. Lieberman lashed back saying "Howard Dean's statements, break a 50-year record in which presidents, Republican and Democrat, members of Congress of both parties, have supported our relationship with Israel based on shared values and common strategic interests." In response to Lieberman’s criticism, Dean responded, "It doesn't help, Joe, to demagogue this issue."


also see:
Vote For Dean at Whiskey Bar

France and Germany Seek Full UN Control Over Iraq

France and Germany will back the new UN resolution on Iraq sought by President George Bush only if the proposal gives the UN full political rule over the country. The countries have also demanded a clear programme for returning power to Iraqis.

The high price sought by the French suggests that Mr Bush is going to struggle to win UN agreement ahead of his planned speech to the security council on September 24. Foreign ministers of the five permanent members are due to meet the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, in Geneva this weekend to try to find common ground.

France and Germany will accept the authority of the 25-strong governing council of Iraq, even though its membership was largely handpicked by the Anglo-US provisional authority. France believes the handover needs to be quick since many Iraqis fail to distinguish between US and UN control of the country.

The French remain surprised at the lack of planning for postwar reconstruction, and of any apparent serious thought about the prospect of conflict between the Shia and Sunni groups. France doubts a solution lies in extra troops, but says the governing council needs to be given a clear impression of a timetable leading to democratic elections and a constitutional assembly. [...]

Hijacked 9/11 Flights and Military Bases



MediaLab has merged a map of the 9/11 planes' flightpaths with a map of military bases in those areas. The flights went through some of the most heavily militarized parts of the country, yet nothing could be done to stop them?

9/11 - Foreign Policy Perpetual Motion Machine

We went into Iraq to eliminate Saddam's stock of weapons of mass destruction, to depose a reckless strongman at the heart of a vital region, and to overawe unfriendly regimes on the country's borders. Agree or not, those were the prime stated reasons. Now we've got a deteriorating security situation and a palpably botched plan for reconstruction. And our effort to recover from our ill-conceived and poorly-executed policy is now the 'central front' in the war on terror, which is among other things extremely convenient.

The president has turned 9/11 into a sort of foreign policy perpetual motion machine in which the problems ginned up by policy failures become the rationale for intensifying those policies. The consequences of screw-ups become examples of the power of 'the terrorists'.

We're not on the offensive. We're on the defensive. A bunch of mumbo-jumbo and flim-flam doesn't change that.


Those who want victory want an unending war.
- Ami Ayalon

Israel Must End Its Policy of Closures and Restriction of Movement

"Israel must put an end to the imposition of disproportionate and discriminatory restrictions on Palestinians' movement in the Occupied Territories which have crippled the Palestinian economy and caused widespread poverty, unemployment and increasing health problems," Amnesty International said in a report published today.

Closures, blockades, checkpoints, curfews and a barrage of other restrictions imposed by the Israeli army on Palestinians have made even short journeys between towns and villages difficult, dangerous and often impossible - effectively confining some three and a half million Palestinians to a form of town arrest.

The report Surviving Under Siege - The Impact of Movement Restrictions on the Right to Work examines the impact of these restrictions. The restrictions have often prevented Palestinians from reaching their workplaces or distributing their products and factories and farms have been driven out of business by losses incurred, dramatically increased transport costs and loss of export markets. Unemployment has soared to over 50 percent, more than half the population is now living below the poverty line and malnutrition and other illnesses have increased. [...]

Why Was Baghdad Looted?

Heavy suspicion remains that failure of the US to protect heritage sites, more than negligence, was a deliberate oversight designed as a kind of cultural 'shock and awe' that would devastate a sense of shared culture among Iraqis, leaving a blank page for the imprint of the US occupying force and the reconstruction to follow. If proven, this would be cultural genocide not witnessed during this civilization and indeed rarely experienced over the 7,000-year time span of these lost collections.

Among non-embedded journalists, there were doubts raised about the seemingly random nature of the looting. In Baghdad, Robert Fisk observed: "But for Iraq, this is Year Zero; with the destruction of the antiquities in the Museum of Archaeology and the burning of the National Archives and then the Koranic library, the cultural identity of Iraq is being erased. Why? Who set these fires? For what insane purpose is this heritage being destroyed?". . .

Writing in Le Monde diplomatique in November 2002, French writer and critic Jean Baudrillard gives us a theoretical model for understanding the chaos of Baghdad. In this article, "The Despair of Having Everything," his main argument is that: "The West's mission is to make the world's wealth of cultures interchangeable, and to subordinate them within the global order. Our culture, which is bereft of values, revenges itself upon the values of other cultures." [...]

Journalist or Terrorist?

MILES O'BRIEN, (CNN Anchor): All right, first of all, let's talk about this particular journalist and this particular network. Tayssir Alouni, I don't know him personally. You know him by reputation. And certainly, you know about Al-Jazeera. Lots of allegations there about their sympathies. Is it surprising to you to hear about these allegations, nonetheless?

ERIC MARGOLIS: No, the allegations that have come against him personally strike me as really rather very odd and not very substantial.

Here was a man who was a Spanish citizen on vacation in Spain. He hadn't been in Afghanistan in quite a while. And, suddenly, he's accused by the publicity-seeking Spanish judge, Judge Garzon, of being linked to al Qaeda suspects who were arrested in Spain in 2001 and who were never charged with anything and never brought to trial. And, suddenly, he's been rounded up and accused of having al Qaeda contacts.

MILES O'BRIEN: So, I suppose, if the goal was publicity, it was a success.

ERIC MARGOLIS: Well, it was a success.

But there is a more disturbing element here. This suggests that the United States government is pursuing a very aggressive and hostile policy towards the Al-Jazeera network, which has often been called the CNN of the Middle East. It is the only network that gives really free news across the Arab world. And it is intensely watched. This journalist was one of its leading men. And the United States has tried -- complained that Al-Jazeera is not towing the party line and is saying things it does not want to hear.

The U.S. Air Force bombed the Al-Jazeera office in Basra, Iraq and in Baghdad, and it bombed the Al-Jazeera office in Kabul, Afghanistan, and nearly killed Mr. Alouni. So this may suggest that there is a much more of a menacing situation here than meets the eye.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right, well, that's a pretty serious allegation. What you're saying is, essentially, the U.S. government is pulling the strings here with the Spanish authorities and engaging in a systematic campaign to stop Al-Jazeera's message. Is that an accurate statement of how you feel about it?

ERIC MARGOLIS: I would suggest that that might very well be the answer. I hope it is not. [...]

Think of a wonderful thought...

From Donald Rumsfeld:

Mr. Rumsfeld did not mention any of the domestic critics by name. But he suggested that those who have been critical of the administration’s handling of the war in Iraq and its aftermath might be encouraging American foes to believe that the United States might one day walk away from the effort, as it has in past conflicts.

From Christopher Durang:

You remember how in the second act Tinkerbell drinks some poison that Peter is about to drink in order to save him? And then Peter turns to the audience and he says, "Tinkerbell is going to die because not enough people believe in fairies. But if all of you clap your hands real hard to show that you do believe in fairies, maybe she won’t die."

So, we all started to clap. I clapped so long and so hard that my palms hurt and they even started to bleed I clapped so hard. Then suddenly the actress playing Peter Pan turned to the audience and she said, “That wasn’t enough. You did not clap hard enough. Tinkerbell is dead.” And then we all started to cry. The actress stomped off stage and refused to continue with the production. They finally had to lower the curtain. The ushers had to come help us out of the aisles and into the street.

You hear that? CLAP LOUDER!

78% of Bush's Postwar Spending Plan Is for Military

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 — President Bush's $87 billion request for postwar costs is heavily weighted to maintaining military operations, with $65.5 billion directed to the armed forces, $15 billion toward rebuilding Iraq and $5 billion toward building its security forces, and $800 million to new spending for civilian programs in Afghanistan, administration officials said today.

The $87 billion price tag makes the package the most expensive postwar military and civilian effort since the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II, after adjusting for inflation. Combined with the earlier $79 billion approved by Congress to conduct the war and pay initial postwar expenses, it would bring the cost to the United States of deposing Saddam Hussein and stabilizing Iraq and Afghanistan this year and next to $166 billion. That is more than 25 times the $6.4 billion bill to American taxpayers, in today's dollars, for the Persian Gulf war in 1991 to expel Iraq from Kuwait. [...]

Rogue Nation
(via Resist Them)

1) In December 2001, the United States officially withdrew from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty, gutting the landmark agreement-the first time in the nuclear era that the US renounced a major arms control accord.

2) 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention ratified by 144 nations including the United States. In July 2001 the US walked out of a London conference to discuss a 1994 protocol designed to strengthen the Convention by providing for on-site inspections. At Geneva in November 2001, US Undersecretary of State John Bolton stated that "the protocol is dead," at the same time accusing Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Libya, Sudan, and Syria of violating the Convention but offering no specific allegations or supporting evidence.

3) UN Agreement to Curb the International Flow of Illicit Small Arms, July 2001: the US was the only nation to oppose it.

4) April 2001, the US was not reelected to the UN Human Rights Commission, after years of withholding dues to the UN (including current dues of $244 million)-and after having forced the UN to lower its share of the UN budget from 25 to 22 percent. (In the Human Rights Commission, the US stood virtually alone in opposing resolutions supporting lower-cost access to HIV/AIDS drugs, acknowledging a basic human right to adequate food, and calling for a moratorium on the death penalty.)

5) International Criminal Court (ICC) Treaty, to be set up in The Hague to try political leaders and military personnel charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Signed in Rome in July 1998, the Treaty was approved by 120 countries, with 7 opposed (including the US). In October 2001 Great Britain became the 42nd nation to sign. In December 2001 the US Senate again added an amendment to a military appropriations bill that would keep US military personnel from obeying the jurisdiction of the proposed ICC. [...]

Former U.S. Envoy Challenges Bush on N. Korea

Prospects are "grim" for a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis unless the United States engages in a sustained bilateral dialogue with Pyongyang, former U.S. negotiator Charles L. "Jack" Pritchard said on Monday.

In his first public comments since resigning from the Bush administration three weeks ago on the eve of six-party talks in Beijing, Pritchard challenged the administration's steadfast refusal to have one-on-one negotiations with North Korea.

Pritchard was one of the U.S. government's most experienced North Korea negotiators before resigning last month at a crucial moment, days before the United States, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan were to sit down with the North Koreans in Beijing.

Asked at the Brookings event to explain his resignation, Pritchard declined. But administration hard-liners have long viewed him as an obstruction and it was clear from his remarks on Monday that he disagreed with a fundamental hard-liner position, opposing direct U.S.-North Korean talks.

Speaking on the "Fox News Sunday" program a day earlier, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice defended President Bush's approach and said the United States would stick with it. [...]


Background Reading: Targeting North Korea

Rumsfeld's Fall From 'Grace'

Rumsfeld has been the main voice behind refusing to negotiate with North Korea. Notably, while Rummy was on vacation in August, Powell and his assistant at the State Department, Richard Armitage, took the opportunity to argue their case with the President. In the end, Bush gave in and agreed to do what should have been done months ago: offer North Korea economic aid in exchange for dismantling their nuclear weapons program. This was the Clinton stance so widely reviled at the Pentagon, but in the face of North Korea's recent announcement that it would soon begin testing nuclear weapons, the Rumsfeld doctrine has obviously failed.

Rumsfeld's other fiasco -- the deteriorating situation in Iraq -- has finally reached the critical point of affecting George Bush's popularity polls. After four car bombings in four weeks, resulting in the death of the U.N. envoy to Iraq and the only Shiite cleric who would negotiate openly with the U.S., all Pentagon assurances about the "improving security situation" now appear to be idiotically thin propaganda.

Last week was financial crunch time for the Bush administration. Having spent the last few millions of dollars of seized Iraqi government assets and swiftly running out of the $79 billion Congress appropriated for the war, the Bushies are preparing another emergency request for funds, and the amount is expected to be more than four times the original estimates: over $80 billion, most of it for reconstruction, including an effort to train and arm 50,000 more Iraqi police and paramilitary forces.

Donald Rumsfeld's desperate two-day propaganda tour to Iraq hasn't helped matters much. Rumsfeld divided his time between the Baghdad airport, Bremer's regal compound in Baghdad, and the U.S. military base in Tikrit surrounded by ten-foot walls and razor wire. He flew in and out of these places under heavy guard in an enormous convoy of military helicopters, never touching the ground until he reached the safe haven of Mosul in the Kurdish-controlled north. The fact that he couldn't or wouldn't brave a trip in a Humvee was itself a sign that, all protestations aside, the U.S. is losing the war against the guerrillas' increasingly frequent, increasingly sophisticated attacks. [...]


It is getting better every day. I can see a change since I was here...For a city that's not supposed to have power, there's lights all over the place. It's like Chicago.
- Donald Rumsfeld during his brief stay in Baghdad

Text of George W Bush's Speech on Iraq

Good evening. I have asked for this time to keep you informed of America's actions in the war on terror. Nearly two years ago, following deadly attacks on our country.

[yadda, yadda, yadda]

I will soon submit to Congress a request for 87 billion dollars.

[yadda, yadda, yadda]

We've been tested these past 24 months, and the dangers have not passed. Yet Americans are responding with courage and confidence. [...]



Those who want victory want an unending war.
- Ami Ayalon

Bush Seeks An Exit Strategy As War Threatens His Career

George Bush will attempt tonight to convince the American people that he has a workable 'exit strategy' to free his forces from the rapidly souring conflict in Iraq, as Britain prepares to send in thousands more troops to reinforce the faltering coalition effort.

Frantic negotiations continued this weekend in New York to secure a United Nations resolution that would open the way for other countries to deploy peacekeeping troops to help after Bush - with one eye on next year's presidential election - signalled a change of heart on America's refusal to allow any but coalition forces into Iraq.

The President has been left with little practical choice. Concern among the American public has reached such a pitch that, with his approval ratings plummeting, he will deliver a televised address to the nation tonight to reassure them that they do not face another Vietnam. With their sons and daughters dying daily in guerrilla attacks, Americans may now be becoming more frightened of being bogged down in a hostile country than of the terrorist threat against which Bush has pledged to defend them. [...]

This War on Terrorism is Bogus
The 9/11 attacks gave the US an ideal pretext to use force to secure its global domination

Massive attention has now been given - and rightly so - to the reasons why Britain went to war against Iraq. But far too little attention has focused on why the US went to war, and that throws light on British motives too. The conventional explanation is that after the Twin Towers were hit, retaliation against al-Qaida bases in Afghanistan was a natural first step in launching a global war against terrorism. Then, because Saddam Hussein was alleged by the US and UK governments to retain weapons of mass destruction, the war could be extended to Iraq as well. However this theory does not fit all the facts. The truth may be a great deal murkier.

We now know that a blueprint for the creation of a global Pax Americana was drawn up for Dick Cheney (now vice-president), Donald Rumsfeld (defence secretary), Paul Wolfowitz (Rumsfeld's deputy), Jeb Bush (George Bush's younger brother) and Lewis Libby (Cheney's chief of staff). The document, entitled Rebuilding America's Defences (pdf), was written in September 2000 by the neoconservative think tank, Project for the New American Century (PNAC).

The plan shows Bush's cabinet intended to take military control of the Gulf region whether or not Saddam Hussein was in power. It says "while the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein."

The PNAC blueprint supports an earlier document attributed to Wolfowitz and Libby which said the US must "discourage advanced industrial nations from challenging our leadership or even aspiring to a larger regional or global role". [...]

Report: Mossad In Iraq for Anti-Terror Efforts

According to a report in the Arab-language Al-Hayat newspaper, a delegation from the Israeli intelligence service, the Mossad, visited Baghdad last month in order to coordinate its anti-terrorism efforts with U.S. forces in Iraq.

Basing its report on comments made by an anonymous Kurdish official, the newspaper claimed that the delegation carried out a field tour in the Iraqi capital and aerial tours in a U.S. military helicopter above Mosul, Tikrit and Ramadi.

The official claimed that U.S.-Israeli security coordination in Iraq has been stepped up.

While there have been reports that Israeli companies have been invited by the U.S. to do business in Iraq, this is the first report of Israeli security officials visiting the country.

Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei mentioned last week that an Israeli delegation visited Baghdad, without identifying the nature of its mission.

Democratic Presidential Debate
Part II: Iraq & Foreign Policy

RAY SUAREZ: Congressman Kucinich, some of those allies that the two earlier speakers (Howard Dean and Richard Gephardt) have referred to have already said that the current resolution that's circulating doesn't go far enough. Can we keep American civil administration and American military administration as it currently exists and expect the rest of the world to come to the aid of the United States?

DENNIS KUCINICH: I believe that it is time to bring the troops home, it is time to bring the U.N. in and get the U.S. out. (Speaking in Spanish)

And what we need to do in order to accomplish that is to get the United Nations together in an agreement that provides for the following: first, that the U.N. will handle the collection and distribution of all oil revenues for the people of Iraq without privatization.

Second that the U.N. will handle all contracts. No more Halliburton sweetheart deals. And third...

And third, that the United Nations will proceed to work with the people of Iraq to construct a government that the people of Iraq can call their own. Under those conditions, the United States can move away from Bush's blunder, which Iraq will be known as because there was no reason to go into Iraq--at war with Iraq in the first place. And everyone who took the responsibility on this stage has to answer to the American people for voting for that war. I led the effort against it. [...]

Abbas Steps Down, Dealing Big Blow to U.S. Peace Plan

Mahmoud Abbas submitted his resignation as Palestinian prime minister today, and Israel tried to kill the spiritual leader and founder of Hamas with an airstrike in Gaza City, as the Bush administration's drive for Middle East peace appeared in danger of disintegrating.

Some associates of Mr. Abbas held out the hope that, by provoking what Palestinian politicians called a dire crisis within the leadership, he would revive a peace plan that they said was all but dead already.

Similarly, Israeli officials, saying they had struck at the "head of the snake" by attacking the Hamas leader, argued that eliminating Hamas was necessary to pursue peace in the Middle East. But both developments seemed to present the chance of moving the adversaries toward spiraling violence.

The attack on the Hamas leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, in which 15 people, including children, were wounded, prompted vows of retaliation from Hamas. Israel, which used a 550-pound bomb dropped from a warplane, said it was striking not only at Sheik Yassin but also at Hamas terrorists meeting with him.

A senior Israeli security official said the attack failed because the air force used a "relatively small bomb" to minimize civilian casualties. [...]

Bin Laden Family Allowed 9/11 Leave

The bin Laden family were granted extraordinary White House privileges to fly out of U.S. airspace following the attacks of Sept. 11th, 2001.

Former White House counter terrorism expert Richard Clarke told Vanity Fair the Bush administration decided to allow a group of Saudis to fly out of U.S. airspace just after Sept. 11-- a time when access to the United States was still restricted and required special government approval.

According to the magazine's sources, at least four flights with about 140 Saudis, including roughly two-dozen members of the bin Laden family, flew to Saudi Arabia that week without even being interviewed or interrogated by the FBI.

Clarke, who headed the counter terrorism security group of the National Security Council, said he does not now recall who initiated the request for approval. He said it was probably either the FBI or the State Department, both of which have denied playing any such role. [...]

Joints Chief Of Staff Criticize White House War Planning

A secret internal report by the Joint Chiefs of Staff criticizes the Bush administration for failing to adequately plan for the reconstruction and policing of Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein and for failing to predict that a guerilla war would emerge.

The report titled "Operation Iraqi Freedom Strategic Lessons Learned" was obtained by the Washington Times.

The report also shows that President Bush approved the war plans last August, a month before the U.S. approached the UN Security Council for a war mandate. And the Washington Times reports that the U.S. kept in close contact with Israel over the war plans. A meeting to discuss the invasion was held in mid-February with "key Israeli leaders" according to the report.

Right to Return of Palestinian Refugees

One of the basic tenets of Zionism involves taking the land of Palestine and getting rid of its people. This tenet was realised by all possible means: expulsion, massacres, closures, house demolitions, starvation, harassment and other means made possible by the great imbalance of power between the occupier and the occupied. This is called "ethnic cleansing" in modern parlance and in the language of the Statute of Rome of July 1998 which gave birth to the International Criminal Court.

Ethnic cleansing, that is expelling inhabitants from their homes, is a war crime. To prevent these once slighted inhabitants from return, no matter what the reason for their exodus, is also a war crime. That is why international law is very clear and specific on this point. It is no accident that article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, passed by the UN on 10 December 1948, stipulates that every person has the right to return to his home. It is also no accident that on the following day, 11 December, the UN passed the famous resolution 194, calling for the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes.

This posed a serious problem for Israel: fighting against this solid body of international law. For Israel, there was an additional problem. Israel's admission to the UN as a member state was conditional upon its compliance with two UN resolutions: (1) accepting a full fledged Palestinian sovereign state according to resolution 181 (Partition of Palestine), and (2) accepting the return of the refugees to "their homes" according to resolution 194.

In the last five decades, Israel and its supporters advanced over three dozen schemes to resettle Palestinian refugees anywhere in the world except their homes. Western emissaries came and went, threatening and bribing neighbouring states through water schemes, joint projects, financial aid or through the political rhetoric of branding them as extremist, terrorist-harbouring states or calling them a threat to world peace.

All this failed. So did five wars and innumerable Israeli raids. Millions of Arabs became destitute; hundreds of thousands were wounded, imprisoned or saw their lives shatter; tens of thousands lost their lives. Despite this hardship none of the Palestinian refugees accepted the injustice of rights deprivation. None forfeited their rights. [...]

Overpaying the Pentagon
How we can meet our security needs for less than $500 billion

When George Bush Senior's administration decided that the end of the Cold War made it safe to reduce the defense budget and the size of our armed forces, many neoconservatives and defense hawks, some of whom were serving in that administration, argued against the move. They wanted the United States to maintain military dominance in order to prevent the emergence of a rival power to challenge American hegemony.

Since the attacks of September 11, and the promulgation of the George W. Bush doctrine of unilateral military preemption a year later, many of these same individuals are now calling for an increase of as much as $100 billion a year in defense spending and restoring the size of the active duty military force to its 1990 level. [...]

The Dollar Crisis

During the 30 years since the breakdown of the Bretton Woods International Monetary System, the global economy has been flooded with dollar liquidity. International reserves are one of the best measures of that liquidity. During the quasi-gold standard Bretton Woods era, international reserves expanded only slowly. For example, total international reserves increased by only 55% during the 20 years between 1949 and 1969, the year Bretton Woods began to come under strain. Since 1969, total international reserves have surged by more than 2000%. This explosion of reserve assets has been one of the most significant economic events of the last 50 years.

The surge in international reserves has created unprecedented macroeconomic imbalances that are destabilizing the global economy. The global economic disequilibrium caused by these imbalances is the subject of this article.

Since the breakdown of Bretton Woods, dollars have replaced gold as the international reserve currency. The international monetary system now functions on a Dollar Standard rather than a Gold Standard.

The primary characteristic of The Dollar Standard is that it has allowed the United States to finance extraordinarily large current account deficits by selling debt instruments to its trading partners instead of paying for its imports with gold as would have been required under the Bretton Woods System or The Gold Standard. [...]

The Worst of Times

The world is beginning to look like France, a few years before the Revolution. There are no reliable wealth statistics from that time, but the disparities are unlikely to have been greater than they are today. The wealthiest 5% of the world's people now earn 114 times as much as the poorest 5%. The 500 richest people on earth now own $1.54 trillion - more than the entire gross domestic product of Africa, or the combined annual incomes of the poorest half of humanity.

Now, just as then, the desperation of the poor counterpoises the obscene consumption of the rich. Now, just as then, the sages employed by the global aristocrats - in the universities, the thinktanks, the newspapers and magazines - contrive to prove that we possess the best of all possible systems in the best of all possible worlds. In the fortress of Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay we have our Bastille, in which men are imprisoned without charge or trial.

Like the court at Versailles, the wealth and splendour of the nouveau-ancien regime will be on display, not far from the stinking slums in which hunger reigns, at next week's world trade summit in Cancun in Mexico. Between banquets and champagne receptions, men like the European trade commissioner Pascal Lamy and the US trade representative Robert Zoellick will dismiss with their customary arrogance the needs of the hungry majority. There we will witness the same corruption, of both purpose and execution, the same conflation of the private good with the public good: le monde, c'est nous. As Charles Dickens wrote of the ruling class of that earlier time: "the leprosy of unreality disfigured every human creature in attendance." [...]

Not Just Warmer: It's the Hottest for 2,000 years

The earth is warmer now than it has been at any time in the past 2,000 years, the most comprehensive study of climatic history has revealed. Confirming the worst fears of environmental scientists, the newly published findings are a blow to sceptics who maintain that global warming is part of the natural climatic cycle rather than a consequence of human industrial activity.

Prof Philip Jones, a director of the University of East Anglia's climatic research unit and one of the authors of the research, said: "You can't explain this rapid warming of the late 20th century in any other way. It's a response to a build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere."

The study reinforces recent conclusions published by the UN's intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC). Scientists on the panel looked at temperature data from up to 1,000 years ago and found that the late 20th century was the warmest period on record.

To find the answer, the scientists looked at tree trunks, which keep a record of the local climate: the rings spreading out from the centre grow to different thicknesses according to the climate a tree grows in. The scientists looked at sections taken from trees that had lived for hundreds and even thousands of years from different regions and used them to piece together a picture of the planet's climatic history.

The scientists also studied cores of ice drilled from the icy stretches of Greenland and Antarctica. As the ice forms, sometimes over hundreds of thousands of years, it traps air, which holds vital clues to the local climate at the time.

Looking back over a succession of earlier centuries, the temperature fluctuated slightly, becoming slightly warmer or cooler by 0.2C in each century. The temperature has increased by at least that amount in the past 20 or so years, the scientists report in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. [...]

The Mini-Empire Tool Kit

The Marriott Hotel in Jakarta was still burning when Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia's Co-ordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, explained the implications of the day's attack. "Those who criticize about human rights being breached must understand that all the bombing victims are more important than any human-rights issue."

In a sentence, we got the best summary yet of the philosophy underlying President George W. Bush's so-called war on terrorism. Terrorism doesn't just blow up buildings; it blasts every other issue off the political map. The specter of terrorism, real and exaggerated, has become a shield of impunity, protecting governments around the world from scrutiny for their human-rights abuses.

Many have argued that the War on Terrorism trademark is the U.S. government's thinly veiled excuse for constructing a classic empire, in the model of Rome or Britain. Two years into the crusade, it's clear that this is a mistake: The Bush gang doesn't have the stick-to-it-ness to successfully occupy one country, let alone a dozen.

Mr. Bush and the gang do, however, have the hustle of good marketers, and they know how to contract out. What Mr. Bush has created in the war on terrorism is less a doctrine for world domination than an easy-to-assemble tool kit for any mini-empire looking to get rid of the opposition and expand its power.

The war on terrorism was never a war in the traditional sense, it lacked a clear target or a fixed location. It is, instead, a kind of brand, an idea that can be easily franchised by any government in the market for an all-purpose opposition cleanser. [...]

U.S. Checking Possibility of Pumping Oil From Northern Iraq to Haifa

The United States has asked Israel to check the possibility of pumping oil from Iraq to the oil refineries in Haifa. The request came in a telegram last week from a senior Pentagon official to a top Foreign Ministry official in Jerusalem.

The Prime Minister's Office, which views the pipeline to Haifa as a "bonus" the U.S. could give to Israel in return for its unequivocal support for the American-led campaign in Iraq, had asked the Americans for the official telegram.

The new pipeline would take oil from the Kirkuk area, where some 40 percent of Iraqi oil is produced, and transport it via Mosul, and then across Jordan to Israel. The U.S. telegram included a request for a cost estimate for repairing the Mosul-Haifa pipeline that was in use prior to 1948. During the War of Independence, the Iraqis stopped the flow of oil to Haifa and the pipeline fell into disrepair over the years. [...]